The Prague Solution
by AddisonRules
Summary: While waiting outside the cemetery in episode 1x20, Melinda May catches up with Natasha Romanoff.


A little could-have-been snippet from episode 120 where Melinda May spends a moment with an old friend. I don't own anything related to Agents of Shield or Marvel 'cause if I did, the Avengers would be on the show ALL the time!

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She's waiting till dark to start digging, but Melinda knows this particular cemetery locks its gates at night; technically she's waiting till dark to break in so she can start digging.

_"Fury said he buried that intel when he decided not to bury Coulson."_

It's classic Fury, and Melinda hopes she knows him as well as she thinks she does. If her hunch is right, the answer she's looking for might be here. If not, it means more time searching, more time away from the team, more worry over whether or not they're okay.

Phil's heart is broken. She gets that. When she told Skye he wasn't alone in having his world shattered, May was admitting a lot of truth about herself. She and Phil had built lives around S.H.I.E.L.D., given up so much on its behalf, not the least of which were the better part of her soul and his life.

And his resurrection. The cost of that to the both of them has also proven to be unbearably high.

There were nights Melinda could hear nothing but Phil begging to die. And though her own selfish heart was grateful Fury hadn't given in, the pain on his face as he remembered the agony of T.A.H.I.T.I... she knew it was one of the things that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

The look on his face before he left Providence wasn't far behind. She'd expected that if he ever discovered the true nature of her mission, he'd be angry, maybe even unforgiving. But to see something akin to hatred in his eyes staring back at her... no training had prepared May for that level of devastation.

Even this, she knew, might not be enough to fix it. But she has to try.

She notices the movement 200 yards away. A thin, black clad figure wearing jeans and a hoodie heads toward her hiding spot behind the brick wall on the far side of the graveyard. By the time the figure is close enough for recognition, Melinda exhales and leans back in her seat, her finger triggering the locks so the passenger door is open.

Her visitor doesn't seem surprised to find it unlocked, the handle giving easily before the figure slides into the car and closes the door.

"You that sure you can still trust me?"

Melinda turns and catches a grin on Natasha Romanoff's face, then huffs out something like a wry laugh.

"I imagine when Pierce was making his list of 'must kills' he had to think hard about who to take out first, you or me."

Natasha chuckles at that and leans back, her feet moving to the dash before she stops herself, then rolls her eyes.

"Damn Captain America and his good influence. Now I can't even relax like I want to."

May grabs a water bottle from her stash in the back seat and hands one off to Natasha before cracking one open herself.

"How'd you know where to find me?"

"Heard someone took out Hill's entire surveillance team in about 30 seconds. It wasn't me, so I knew it had to be you. She told me you were in town because of Phil. I figured this was the only place there was to look."

"That's all she told you?"

Melinda studies Natasha as the younger agent forms her answer. Natasha was a master liar. Koenig's crack about a lie detector even Nat couldn't beat wasn't just lip service. But when it was just them, or when there had been legitimate downtime shared by the two of them, Phil, and Clint, Nat let her guard down just enough to make you forget how good a story she could weave. She was someone who had learned she needed real friends, and back before things had changed forever, Natasha had found that kinship among their odd little quartet.

"All she told me, but I could tell there was more. Seemed like a conversation for you and I to have. Especially since my guess is it might finally solve the mystery of how Fury got you out of that cubicle."

"Mom told me you'd called."

That story had come out halfway home to Pennsylvania. Natasha had called Melinda's mother in a panic after the Triskelion had fallen, telling her to make sure Melinda was clear.

_"She was worried about you, __Qiaolian__. I had to tell her the truth."_

Which is why her mother decided to tell Natasha that Melinda had been out in the field for months working on a special detail; a fact that May herself had not revealed to her old friends at Director Fury's adamant request.

But there was no Director Fury anymore, at least officially. She still didn't buy that Fury was dead. But with no protocols left in place, Melinda's mother hadn't seen the harm in putting Natasha's mind at ease.

"It was good of you to call her."

"It was not so good of you to go back out and not tell me."

Melinda sighs and nods.

"I couldn't."

"Because Fury said so or..."

The "or" doesn't need words. They'd all lived the "or" after Bahrain when Melinda had taken seven successive suicide missions and failed to get herself killed.

"I promised you that would never happen again."

Back then, May had been the only one battling those kinds of demons. Natasha was still being forced to prove herself at every turn, but she had the people who mattered on her side; Clint was becoming one of Phil's favorite operatives; Coulson was Fury's guy and everyone knew it.

But that night in her apartment, Melinda had fought with Natasha for the first time in anger. Confronted with the worry of the people who loved her, she had lashed out, and it had taken all three of them to subdue her. When she woke, Melinda was at her mother's house. Phil, Natasha, and Clint were all there. For five days they put the world on hold and told Fury to find someone else to save it, and they formed a team with her mother to remind her that it did matter if she lived or died.

So she had lived for them. For a long time, that's all she lived for. She had transferred to Administration, gotten back into a routine, did things like brunch with Phil on Sundays on the Potomac and shop with her mother at Bloomingdales. And eventually Melinda had learned to live for herself as much as she had for the four people who refused to let her make any other choice.

Then the dark energy program had gone haywire. Clint had his mind turned inside out by Loki. Natasha had faced off with Pierce and burned herself to save as many others as she could. And Phil...

There was the possibility that Phil would never forgive her. Melinda knew that. His trust in Maria was likely rocked as well now that he knew the truth about T.A.H.I.T.I. And if the worst happened, if he pushed her and Maria away and if Fury was really gone, then the list of people Phil might let in was down to maybe two names.

"Coulson's alive."

Natasha doesn't react at first, and Melinda turns to face her, wondering if she has to say it again. Then the redhead chuckles.

"That explains it. I couldn't imagine what would get you out of that box. Phil makes sense."

"You're not gonna ask me how?"

Natasha shrugs.

"It's S.H.I.E.L.D. Coming back from the dead doesn't seem all that strange anymore. If it was gonna be anyone, I'm glad it was him."

"Fury asked me to watch his back. So I did. But I had to lie to him. Phil can't even look at me now."

"You remember after Prague when we set up that drop, just for the four of us?"

Melinda nods. It had been one of those missions where everything that could go wrong had unraveled entirely. Clint had broken both his arms in a fall, Phil took two bullets in his leg, and Natasha had been poisoned with something that left her barely breathing by the time Melinda had figured out their location and stormed in to save them.

"If he needs me... if you need me... I'll know."

It was a contingency she hoped she'd never need, but Melinda breathed easier knowing it was there. The world might be falling apart, but there were still a few things she could count on. That Natasha was one of them was not a surprise.

"So what are you doing here if Phil's alive?"

A slight grin pulls at Melinda's lips.

"Digging up his grave. Want to help?"

Natasha pulls out her cell and checks the time.

"I'm not due to check up on Rogers for a few hours. You got two shovels?"

It's dark enough for the women to make quick work of the locks, secure the gate, and make their way to the grave marked "Phillip Coulson." It rocks Melinda to see it again, the pain of that horrible day when she thought he was being buried here racing through her.

"He'll forgive you."

She turns to see Natasha pulling a pair of gloves out of her hoodie pocket.

"Maybe not."

"The whole reason the Prague solution works is that we all know the four of us will always show up. Maybe for a minute he thinks he won't. But he's Phil. And you're you. That's not something he can forget."

Melinda hopes her old friend is right. She hopes the answers are in this awful place so she can find him.

She hopes he knows she plans to show up, even if he's not sure he wants her to.


End file.
